TTO Scoresheet Podcast

Scoresheet Player Trend Watch: May Supplemental Draft

In Scoresheet, it’s often best to keep abreast of what your competition is doing—and not just in your own league. The Scoresheet universe is filled with thousands of players, each bringing their own knowledge to the game. We’ve built a way to (unofficially) harness that knowledge in order to more accurately determine player availability in existing leagues. Using this tool, we can tell you that Doug Fister is the player on more Scoresheet teams than anyone else, which is fun trivia. By having it active over time, we’ve developed a better understanding of owner strategy.

The lists below are one breakdown of that understanding. We’ve used our tool to find out which players were added in the most leagues. Doing so gets you names such as Eduardo Escobar and Brandon League, who were the players picked up in the most AL and NL leagues, respectively. Since they are now owned in the majority of leagues, however, this may not be immediately actionable info. However, once you limit the list to players still available in more than half of the leagues, we can better see which players are currently “trending,” and who may still be available in your format. You can use this column to learn the wisdom of the crowds, or to trade away these players and bet against the masses.

Five Hottest Pickups in NL-Only Leagues

1.Tyler Colvin (Owned in 44 percent of NL leagues, +41 percent):Blake Treinen edges just over the arbitrary line with 51 percent ownership in NL leagues, leaving Colvin as the hottest player trending who is still available in the majority of leagues. While the hot start is nice, Colvin’s spot in the lineup should evaporate when Brandon Belt returns, and his defense is no spot on Gregor Blanco, leaving him vulnerable. He may be useful as a pinch-hitter against righties for a playoff team, but it’s hard to see him pushing you there.

2. Anthony DeSclafani(28% owned, +25%):
Like a number of players listed in this column, DeSclafani gets a bounce by reaching the majors for the first time, even if he was sent back down immediately. In the interim, however, the Marlins signed Randy Wolf to take his rotation spot. With Andrew Heaney on the way and several other starting candidates in the upper minors, it’s relatively easy to see the Marlins returning DeSclafani to the bullpen role he had throughout most of his college career.

3. Chase Anderson (24% owned, +23%):
Anderson has a similar (but inferior) profile to DeSclafani, but a clearer hold on a rotation slot, which makes him the more appealing option. He’s likely also a reliever in the long term, but his ability to paper over a short term need for your club with average talent makes him a tempting option for 2014.

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